On Tuesday night, musicians used Twitter to express outrage at a website that was selling their music as NFTs without permission before it shut down hours later.
On its website, HitPiece claimed it offers "One of One" NFTs for "each unique song record." Turning songs into NFTs allows members to then create a "Hitlist," which HitPiece envisions will include "their favorite songs, get on leaderboards, and recieve [sic] in real life value such as access and experiences with Artists."
Seemingly, anyone could register on HitPiece to sell a piece of music as an NFT, even on an artist’s behalf. “Each time an artist’s NFT is purchased or sold, a royalty from each transaction is accounted to the rights holders account,” HitPiece’s website stated.
There was a clear issue, however: It wasn’t artists themselves selling their work as an NFT, in most cases. HitPiece’s homepage was hawking recordings from Pokémon and the Tokyo DisneySea theme park, as well as well-known artists like John Lennon and Muse. But that wasn’t all; seemingly, music from artists of all levels had made it onto the platform without permission.
“The reality is that the immoral, unethical thing is that someone stole and profited off of someone's work without permission,” said Jordan Reyes, founder of American Dream Records, who found out his entire label was listed on HitPiece. “These sorts of scams have existed forever. Now it's utilizing this new technology, but it is a huge scam. It's really absurd and kind of hilarious that they offered a Beatles NFT, a Pinocchio NFT. In a good year, our label sells 10,000-15,000 records a year. Disney sells 10,000-15,000 in an hour likely. Whatever legal recourse I would have with this, there are people who are way bigger fish than me up in arms. It feels really half-baked."
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